Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

Programmers and other technical employees whose wages were allegedly kept artificially low by widespread no-hire pacts between Apple, Google, Adobe, and Intel are being granted class action status. California district court judge Lucy Koh ruled that the antitrust concerns of the \”overarching conspiracy\” between 2005 and 2009 warranted trying the case en masse. According to a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, over 64,000 employees who worked at the four companies are potential class members. Intuit, Pixar, and Lucasfilm had been named as defendants in the original complaint, but have reached tentative settlements with the plaintiffs totaling $19 million, Bloomberg reports.

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After twisting the knife at E3 regarding Microsoft\’s then-complicated game-sharing program, Sony has explained how digital strategy will work on PlayStation 4. Although sharing physical games remains as simple as Sony\’s tongue-in-cheek video suggested, games bought over PSN will be more locked down. The first PS4 you register will be your \”primary console,\” and that\’s where digital purchases will automatically sync to. Anyone logged in on your primary system will then be able to play that game.

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After dumping the penny last year, Canada is taking another step towards the fiscal future with the launch of the world\’s first publicly-accessible Bitcoin ATM next Tuesday. As Wired reports, the landmark machine will be installed outside of a coffee house in downtown Vancouver, allowing members of the public to exchange their Canadian Dollars for Bitcoins, or vice versa.

Machines that exchange physical currency for Bitcoins have made quite a few appearances at industry shows and conferences, and there\’s more than one company attempting to put Bitcoin ATMs in public places. The machine to be installed in Vancouver this week comes from Nevada-based Robocoin. To comply with Canadian law, the machine will check your identity using palm prints, photographs, and ID verification, and will only allow for a maximum of CAD$3,000 (around $2,700) worth of transactions per user per day.

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Umbrellas — like rain itself, like a two-lane highway, like a four-piece pizza at a table for five — tend to bring out the worst in us all. These made-for-one tools enforce, in spite of themselves, a terrible strain of meteorological Darwinism: they encourage us to prioritize ourselves over others in our effort to stay dry. Which leads to, among other things, The Awkward Umbrella Bump. And The Inadvertent-But-Still-Insulting Eye Poke. And The Escalator Cascade, when the umbrella of one person is perfectly angled to funnel rainwater onto the unfortunate rider below.

This stormy state of affairs, one entrepreneur believes, cannot stand.

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An Essex firm is offering a ‘professional mourner’ service for UK funerals.

According to the Daily Mail, Rent a Mourner will provide fake mourners, known as moirologists, in order to increase numbers at services.

The individuals in question are trained actors who specialise in public mourning and are briefed about the deceased before attending the funeral.

The service costs £45 for a two-hour service, and mourners will weep and talk to friends and family members.

Ian Robertson, founder of Rent a Mourner, explained: “We were actually inspired by the market growth in China. The Middle Eastern way is to provide wailers – crying women – as opposed to the quiet, dignified methods we use.”

He added: “It’s growing in the UK – our bookings are up 50% year on year.”